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A second significant difference is demonstrated leadership. Leadership is not earned through a title, but comes from earning the respect and confidence of coworkers. Those with leadership skills are able to not just issue orders and walk away without following up to make sure that the job gets done. Those who are true leaders know the capabilities of those they lead and monitor the progress and results accordingly. Most importantly, when assigning a task, the leader is fully capable of explaining why something needs to be done and when it should be accomplished.

Being able to handle change is the third significant difference between the engaged and disengaged employee. Disengaged employees will almost always fight for the status quo because that is where they are comfortable; they see change as a negative because they might “lose” something.

The engaged employee may also be concerned about change but generally sees it as an opportunity. To some extent it is how people look at the glass of water; is it half full or half empty?

Engaged employees have a track record of success. During a job interview or a performance evaluation, even an informal one, they won’t hesitate to speak about the assignments they are working on, what the results are and when they expect to finish.

Contrast that with a disengaged employee who may not be working on, or thinking about anything other than what they were assigned to do when they took the job. If you ask them about results, they are hard pressed to speak of anything specific that they can take credit for. They will be delighted to talk to you about their last vacation, or the one they have planned, because that is where their true interest lies.

If your organization is not performing the way it should, it would be wise to look first at the people inside of it to determine if that is the root cause. Most likely it is.

Take a piece of paper out and write the names of those that you believe are disengaged. Under that list, write down these questions and ask yourself how these people might answer them:

“Can you give me some examples of how you have demonstrated initiative in your job this past year?”

“Can you give me some examples of some problems you have faced this past year and what plans you took to address them?”

“Can you give me some examples of the results you have achieved this past year through the efforts of others in the company?”

How these three questions are answered will provide the key information needed to determine who is engaged and who is not. The engaged employee will provide example after example. The disengaged employee will struggle to answer, even if provided ample time to do the research.

If you want to have an organization that performs, the more engaged employees you have on the payroll, the fewer disengaged employees you will want to provide a paycheck to.

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In far too many organizations, there are people at work that are not producing. Yes, they show up every day. And they are present in one form or another (most often physically but not always mentally) for the required period of time. But, then they leave work at precisely the time that they are allowed to. They won’t give their employers a second more time or a dollop more energy than is required.

This is not an indictment of an hourly worker who clocks in and is paid for their time. (Although it could be if that worker is present physically but not mentally and makes mistakes that cost the organization money). This refers to the employee who is considered to be in the ranks of management, in charge of insuring that the organization performs, achieves results and does so with the least cost possible.

The Gallup organization did a survey of over one million workers and issued a phrase that they use to define this type of employee: disengaged. By the way, the Gallup survey defined 55 percent of the total workforce as fitting into this category. In some organizations, that percentage is considerably higher.

What makes up the critical difference between engaged employees and those that are disengaged? Research suggests that it comes down to three critical factors.

The first difference is initiative. People who are engaged in what they are doing are proactive; they are not sitting and waiting to be told what to do. They see a problem, or an opportunity, and they tackle it.

Individuals with initiative go the extra mile. They are not afraid of hard work; they don’t mind tackling difficult tasks that others don’t want to do. The reason is that this type of person is ready, willing and able to apply what they know to get the job done. If they lack a specific skill, they are not afraid to learn what they don’t know so they will be able to do more.

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What supervisors do instead is grumble all year long, making comments to everyone else about performance that is not up to standard, all the while the employee believes that they are doing an acceptable job. In fact, the employee might well think that they are doing a fantastic job, because the last official feedback heard from their immediate supervisor was to “keep up the good work.”

The performance evaluation is the equivalent of a report card given to students. Regardless of age, every employee wants to know what it takes to get an “A” and it is the responsibility of the supervisor to sit down and explain that.

To be sure, not every employee is interested in getting an “A” because they might be satisfied by getting a lower grade (whether or not the supervisor will settle for a lower grade is also a good reason to have a formal performance appraisal).

The employee might not be capable of earning an “A” grade, and if that is what is expected in a particular position, that is yet another reason for having a formal evaluation, because without it, the supervisor will get increasingly frustrated by the lack of performance by the employee and the employee will wonder why the supervisor is frustrated with them.

The easiest way to perform an appraisal is to take the following questions and ask the employee to be prepared to sit down for an hour in a confidential, one-on-one meeting to discuss the answers that you both have:

1. As an employee, do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. As an employee, do I have the materials and equipment that I need in order to do my work right?
3. As an employee, at this organization, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
6. Does the mission or purpose of my organization make me feel that my job is important?
7. Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
8. In the past six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
9. This past year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

(These questions come directly from the best selling book “First, Break All The Rules” written by Marcus Buckingham )

What both supervisor and employee will discover is not just how the employee is doing from a performance perspective, but what the communication gaps are between supervisor and employee. That is the key for improving performance with every individual.

Hiring employees is not an easy task. Too many supervisors hire individuals based on a strong resume, a solid and enjoyable in person interview, or simply because a warm body is needed to fill a vacancy.

Once the new employee is on the job, the supervisor expects the employee to not just understand the job, perform the tasks but to do them at the highest quality level without further interaction, coaching or evaluation. It is a sad commentary to make, but employees are employed for years at organizations that operate this way.

It doesn’t and shouldn’t have to happen this way. Use this article as a guideline for at least getting started with regular performance appraisals. People will first dread, and then soon, appreciate the discussion.

People always want to “know the score” when it comes to “How am I doing boss?” Tell them.

One of the most difficult tasks of anyone supervising people is taking the time to carry out a performance appraisal. In one well known municipality in California, an employee never received a formal, written evaluation in 16 years of employment; apparently her supervisor felt that an annual increase in salary was sufficient enough feedback on performance.

An increase in pay, or receiving a bonus, is not an adequate substitute for a formal appraisal of how someone is performing their job.

Neither is saying “keep up the good work” which means nothing to an employee, because there is no point of reference to the statement.

Human resources people in larger organizations usually devise and provide a system consisting of forms and processes for supervisors at every level to implement.

Unfortunately, if the supervisor doesn’t perform the appraisal, doesn’t take the time to sit down to thoughtfully consider the employee as an asset to the organization, there is not much human resources can do about it.

In smaller organizations, forms and processes typically don’t exist. Which is a shame, since most of the people working today work in smaller organizations. The US Small Business Administration (www.SBA.gov) defines this as employers with 500 or fewer employees on the payroll.

Even if formal systems exist, too many supervisors do not want to perform performance appraisals because they do not want to put themselves in the awkward and difficult position of having to criticize an employee.

Think about that for a minute. If you are the manager of a department of say, 12 people, and you have a difficult conversation with an employee who is under performing, what will the environment be like in that particular office following that discussion?

To add one more layer to think about, what if the under performing employee had been on the payroll for more than a few years?

“I have a simple management philosophy. If you treat your employees well, they will take care of your customers and your business.” - Dan Amos, CEO, AFLAC

“My most powerful technique is to tell everyone who works here that one of their main responsibilities and obligations as an employee is to constantly challenge the status quo and relentlessly work to improve whatever product, process, or system they may use to get their work done.” - Chip Perry, CEO, AutoTrader.com

“I learned a powerful leadership secret when I was in the United States Marine Corps. It was called the Five Ps: Prior planning prevents poor performance.” - Archie Dunham, Chairman, ConocoPhillips

“The key to leadership is to have a vision and translate that vision to everybody in the organization with passion and conviction.” - Terdema Ussery, CEO, Dallas Mavericks

“When I interview I had the applicant a pencil and a piece of paper and I ask them to make me a list of ten things they’ve done in their lives that they remember with satisfaction. One inflexible rule is that five of the answers must come from before their 18^th birthday. These early successes tell a lot.” – Mark Dimassimo, CEO, DiMassimo Brand Advertising

“My experience tells me that it is important to be a coach and a teacher. Lead by example.” – David Brandon, CEO, Domino’s Pizza

“Take somebody who doesn’t know how to do something, show them how to do it and give them credit for it. –Steve Roberts, President, Edith Roman Associates

“The most important advice I would give is to be a steady leader. A key is moderating your reactions to both good and bad news. Have exactly the same temperament in both situations and ask the same questions about impact on finances and customers.” –Ronald Kesselman, CEO, Elmer’s Products, Inc.

“The most important element of leadership is to clearly state the mission and the objective of the company in a manner that gets everybody to understand and pull in that direction.” –William Lauder, COO, Estee Lauder

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“Select the best people for every key position, and give them the authority necessary to do their jobs.” –Massimo Ferragamo, Chairman, Ferragamo USA

“A real leader is a man who can build a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” – Paul Garrity, CEO, Garrity Industries, Inc.

“My most powerful leadership strategy is to communicate. I have no hidden agendas. We have four clear messages in our company: build brands, stick to strategy, have good people, and achieve our financial goals.” –Irwin Simon, CEO, Hain Celestial Group

“I am convinced that people will follow a leader they trust, and trust is built by actions, not words. To be successful, a CEO needs to lead by example and model the behaviors and attitudes they expect from their employees.” – Gary Costley, CEO, International Multifoods

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